The Facts
by SpaBath
Summary: Written from Sarah's P.O.V. - the facts she discovered about running the Labyrinth and life afterward.
1. Once A Runner

A/N: I don't own the Labyrinth, or any of it's characters. Nor would I want to, really. Far too much responsibility. Though one day I would love to write something as… mesmerizing. For now, I'll just make do with lackluster fan fiction… enjoy…

Chapter One: Once A Runner 

Fact One: Once you are a runner, you are always a runner.

I never stopped running. He tells you that you have to run the Labyrinth in thirteen hours. I did it in ten. He promises you dreams and worlds. I passed them down. He tells you he will be your slave. I pressed on in my speech. He doesn't tell you that once you're a runner, you are always a runner. I never stopped running.

I always ate what I chose. Karen used to yell at me about it; another thing to deride me about. Kind of like she couldn't believe I'd dare to spite her by eating chocolate and staying thin. How dare I have a metabolism? I never could figure her out. But no one was as shocked as her when one day I started to run. And she was even more surprised when her 'lazy step-daughter' started getting up willingly at six thirty for the privilege. I told her I was listening to words of wisdom. One day my metabolism would fail and I'd balloon out. Not so. I was in training.

You don't beat Him. And if you do, it's the battle, not the war. I didn't trust he wouldn't want revenge. He was a king. If I were him, I'd demand a rematch, crave it, need it and command it. He was biding his time, I felt. I wasn't going to be caught wanting when the time came. But the running… it's more than waiting for a rematch.

You never feel safe again. Home is never home and words are never just words. You lock your doors and check your windows. You triple check the baby sleeping soundly. You go to bed, still nervous, and ball yourself up tight. You pretend you don't hear noises in the night. You get up just one more time to check the baby. Toby was my brother. I still can't believe sometimes that it was all real, though I'll never doubt it. Contradictory I know. But it's the way it is.

I met a woman once. Irene Walker. She had a dream she had a baby. Her name was Elizabeth. Irene had been a child herself when Elizabeth was born. Irene had been left by the father of her child, abandoned by her parents and had nowhere to turn. Elizabeth had been a colicky baby. She screamed and wailed. Irene doesn't remember where the words came from, just that one day they were there, in her mind. And she said them aloud. When he appeared, she didn't really know what was happening. She failed to run the Labyrinth through to the Castle Beyond The Goblin City. She never met Sir Didymous or even Ludo. She ignored Hoggle. And she woke up from a dream about a baby named Elizabeth that she never remembers was the truth. She can't sit still. Irene is eighty-seven and she has lived in over ninety houses. Once you are a runner, you are always a runner. Even if you can't remember. Even if you don't know what you're running from anymore. You just know that it's time, time to run. It's like living in the Junkyard, or being trapped in a peach's dream. There's a real sense of urgency, but you forget what you're looking for.

Regardless, fact one remains unchanged. Once you are a runner, you are always a runner.


	2. Unspoken Names

A/N: I don't own the Labyrinth or any of the characters therein. I do own the originals. And I only aspire for entertainment, not accuracy. Flame me not and I'll flame you not.

Chapter Two: Unspoken Names 

Fact Two: Never, ever say the name of he who rules the Labyrinth.

Don't ever do it. Not on pain of something far worse than death. Don't call him. Don't say his name. Don't even say his title. You learn that in the Labyrinth, words have power. Names have more power than ordinary words. His name has power beyond your wildest dreams.

If you call him, he'll come to you. If you ask it of him, he will exact his price for it. If you challenge him, he'll not back down. Do not say his name. Don't even think it. It's not worth it.

He is fearsome to behold. He is majestic. He has the glamour of a star. He has the allure of magic. He is the ultimate promise, and the ultimate price. I warn you now, do not defy him. He said it to me once, in warning. I ignored him. I had no choice. You do. You have the choice not to call. If you call, you must defy him. If you don't, you lose. And what he has taken from you is seldom worthless.

He always takes more than he says that he will. He told me that he had taken what I… asked him to. He did not tell me what else he would take. He exacted my innocence and my childishness. He took my naiveté and my lightness of heart. He made me more an adult than some ever become. He tired of fulfilling my expectations. Everything I asked of him, he did, in his own twisted way.

He is to be loved. He is to be feared. He is to be avoided, if you can. And the very best way to do that, is to never ever even think his name.

Curiosity, in this case, will not 'kill the cat'. It will change you. It will challenge you. It will risk everything that you have. Resist the temptation. Save yourself the heartache. Don't ever say his name. Don't make my mistakes. Don't say his name.

Do I regret it?

I'll get back to you on that…


	3. What You Must Never Do

A/N: I do not own the Labyrinth, it is the property of the magical Jim Henson Company. Nor do I own any of its residents.

**Chapter Three: What You Must Never Do**

Fact Three: You must never, ever 'wish'.

Do not do it. Never wish for what you do not want. In fact, never wish at all. For you never know who might by listening in. There are worlds other than this – filled with magic and magical creatures that watch and toy with us. A wish is a magical thing. It expresses a desire deeper than you know. It is a spell that can never be unsaid. Do not wish.

In the same way that you never utter his name, you must never utter his wish. What you have is a treasure more priceless than any you will ever have. It is hard to remember this when you find life 'unfair'. When a child is screaming, you are haggard with effort and over-tired. When you feel unjustly challenged and wrongly persecuted. When you want nothing more than to be rid of what is before you… do not do it. Do not say the words. Do not wish for what you do not want. Think about it. Think reasonably. Think long and hard. You may want it right now. But forever? Do not wish it. For a once it is done, it can never be unwished.

Once a wish has come true, a price must be paid. In the same way you the debt collectors come for you, he comes for you. Instead of monetary value, he demands a something so much more difficult to acquire. He wants you to run his Labyrinth. If you fail, and undoubtedly, you will fail, you lose. You are his to do with what he will, as is your treasure; your baby. I did not fail. But I am the only one. And if I were to do it again… this time I do not think that I would be so lucky. I do not think that I would pass the test in the Escher Room. I would lose.

Never wish. Do not do it. Do not wish someone were no longer here -for he may come for him or her. Do not wish for more time - for he moves the stars for no one. Do not wish for adventure – for you may get more than you bargained for.


	4. It Isn't Fair

A/N: I don't own the Labyrinth. I also am well aware that the world does not need another fan fiction about the Labyrinth. I'm writing this anyway, because most of the stories I review are Labyrinth fan-fics.

Chapter Four: It Isn't Fair 

Fact Four: Life is not fair.

When I ran the Labyrinth, eight years ago, I was just a childish girl with childish dreams. I was petulant, obnoxious and, well, bratty. I felt so wronged. My entire life was not fair.

It was not fair my mother abandoned me. It was not fair that my father was spineless. It was not fair he married Karen. It was not fair they had Toby. It wasn't fair that they loved him more than me. It wasn't fair I had to baby-sit him; that they treated me more like an au pair than a daughter. My life was full of 'not fairs'.

When he came, he found my concept of fairness amusing. Then frustrating. Every time anything happened, there I was, pouting and decrying it unfair. "You say that so often, Sarah, that I wonder what your basis for comparison is," he said. And it echoed in my head for years. I never answered his question. But my basis for comparison was the fantasy world I kept locked up in my head – the world of 'should have been'. The world where my mother never left, or took me with her. And everything was wonderful.

But that's not real life. Life is not fair, it just… is. I don't know whether you could call the Labyrinth an initiation of sorts: for maturity or, more importantly, real life. But running the Labyrinth made fact four very clear; he made fact four very clear. Fairness belongs to the one in charge. Very seldom are you the one in charge.

Sometimes, though, and always unexpectedly, life is fair. Well, fair for you. You learn that in the Labyrinth too. It's never fair for the losers. There's always a loser, and it's usually you. But sometimes, just sometimes, you win. And just briefly, every briefly, life is fair. Life was fair in the Escher Room when I managed that final line. "You have no power over me." The fairness lasted until my friends went home, were punished severely and forbidden from seeing me anymore. And it wasn't fair until I said that line. The second life started being fair for me, it stopped being fair for him.

I wonder if life's ever not been fair for him before? I wonder if he still feels the sting of it? Maybe he was lenient to my friend, considering how he felt.

It's not fair, what he tempts you with in the Escher Room. But then, it's not meant to be. My youth saved me. I bet that hurt him. It helped that I wasn't processing what he was saying. Not until later. It's not fair that after that moment you compare every man to him. And it's not fair that no one ever comes close.

But it's not just from that moment. Irene remembers him. I remember her reminiscing gently on her dreams. "He was so… how do you describe a man like that? Was he even a man? I'm not sure. But I craved him, in my dream. I know it's only a dream, a silly little dream, but nothing ever measures up."

Except for me it's not a dream. I know it's real. And that in itself is not fair. Do you think that anything is the same after the Labyrinth? Nothing is the same. And it's not fair. But then, it's not mean to be, is it?


	5. Nothing Is The Same

_A/N: I don't own the Labyrinth or any characters therein. _

Chapter Five: Nothing Is The Same 

Fact Five: The Labyrinth changes everything.

Take a walk through a park. Walk through a toy store. Remember that feeling that someone is watching you? Or that flicker of light out of the corner of your eye? It's all so innocuous to you, isn't it? I mean, it may unnerve you for a moment, but you don't think too much about it.

A walk through the park… You can feel the slow steady heartbeat of the trees and hear the melody of the flowers. You can sense the elementals in the grove – and if you went there you could _see_ them. You know this as surely as you know your name after the Labyrinth. And it frightens you. The majesty of it cows you. It is no longer a mere stroll with your faithful canine. It is an almost otherworldly experience that tempts and taunts.

Toy stores are forever changed. Look at some of the inventions – you can see 'Labyrinth' written all over them. I wonder how he feels about that? People profiteering off his Labyrinth. When I got back, I looked at my toys and thought I'd invented everything. Not so. I might have been the first to reach the Castle Beyond The Goblin City but I was not the first to run the Labyrinth, or meet my friends. It's unnerving to see creatures you know to be very real masquerading as fantastical. I wonder if, one day, I'll see a doll of him. Oh that would be… It won't happen. He would not allow himself to be made a mockery of. I am sure he would draw the line there. Besides, it is not as if anyone could ever truly capture his likeness…

Sometimes everyone gets that 'I'm being watched' feeling. The difference is, you don't do your best not to break out in a cold sweat. I don't know if he is or isn't, but I know I'm being watched. He always seems like the most likely candidate. And when that feeling comes I do my best not to freeze; my best not to run. I try to pretend I am not afraid. I do not admit that I half expect to be taken back Underground. I do not try to sort out how I feel about the fact that he might be watching me or coming for me. I do my best not to think his name; not to breathe it in anticipation and acknowledgment. Instead I know it's time to run again, and I start boxing my life away. It takes twenty-eight boxes and twelve hours to start running now.

When one sees something out of the corner of their eye, they turn to catch a glimpse of something that is not there. Me? I wonder if it wasn't him. Or if it wasn't something more sinister. Or a goblin. I futilely check the clocks on my windows and doors. I turn the music up good and loud. I turn on the oven and bake something. I fill my head with noise and my hands with activity. And I triple check the locks again. I call Karen to make sure Toby is still there, still safe. Karen, of course, thinks my behavior towards Toby is bizarre and mildly amusing. But there it is. It is a wild panic of over-protectiveness. It's the total and utter guilt at what I did to him. Toby's ten and doesn't like me very much. I don't know whether this is because he can somehow remember what I did; or Karen's just convinced him I'm a 'flighty good-for-nothing'.

I don't eat peaches; can't stomach them. I try to memorize routes by counting steps, not leaving marks. I am careful who I give my name to. I never stay in the same place long. I never say 'my right words' that are oh so wrong. I do not dabble in summoning. I never draw unnecessary attention to myself. I used to want to be an actress. Now I want to feel complacent about anything at all. The Labyrinth, when you run it, changes everything.


	6. As It Seems

A/N: I do not own the Labyrinth or any of it's characters Chapter Six: As It Seems 

Fact six: Nothing is what it seems

"Remember, Sarah, nothing is what it seems in my Labyrinth." How very true that was. Brownies beneath stones, oubliettes, Ludo, fireys with detachable heads, peaches and the Goblin K-… him. He, most of all, is not what at first he seemed. Two steps to the right in the Labyrinth could just as easily be two steps to the left. Friends might really be foe and the scariest creatures the most helpful. A plastic bauble can be worth more than the real gems. Helping Hands can hinder you more than help you. Everything comes at a price. Nothing is what it seems in his Labyrinth.

Nothing is what it seems here either. The Labyrinth teaches you that, opens your eyes to it. "One of us tells only the truth, the other tells only lies." If only humans were that simple! Ludo looked a fearsome beast and his wailing was mournful but he was really just hurting. People can be like that too. They get hurt and become mean to try to cover it up. Or they are like Ambrosius: given a noble task but not the courage to complete it. Or like Hoggle – just trying to get by and doing their job unnoticed.

But it's more than that. It's more than just a world of characters. It's also a world of sunrises, rapids, waterfalls and dewy grass. It's a world of houses and offices and caves. It's a world of mystery and a much subtler magic. No one is who you think they are. Nothing is merely as it seems. I won't go so far as to say there's always a catch; but there is always more to everything than meets the untrained eye.


	7. Rules

_A/N: I do not own the Labyrinth or any of its characters._

Chapter Seven: Rules 

Fact Seven: If you made the rules they are yours to break.

"I move the stars for no one," he said. But he moved them for me.

Thirteen hours became ten at his whim.

He said some would help and some would hinder. Then he set himself against those that would help.

The rules state he will only come when he is called or at the end to pronounce judgment. I would not call him but he came anyway, in an enchanted peach dream.

I do not know all the rules of his Labyrinth. I do not know how time works Underground. I do know that the rules are his and are as such at his disposal. He has no rule book, no use for it. The rules are what he says that they are when he says that they are such. When he is losing or they fail to suit him, he changes them.

I will never know all the rules. I don't make them either. Once a runner, always a runner. I still think I'm playing by his rules.

I know what I said in the Escher Room. But it's not true, not really. As long as I remember what happened, he has power over me. The thought of him changes me. I'm suddenly not as cogent as I was. I'm dancing with him again. I feel him waiting for my call. I hear his words echo through my head again – "Fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave." So I panic and I run. So you see, he does still have power over me; I'm still playing by his rules. And if you didn't make them, you don't get to break them. Not without consequences. And as the rules are his, I really don't want to know what those consequences would be…


	8. What's Said Is Said

_A/N: I do not own the Labyrinth or any of its characters_

Chapter Eight: What's Said Is Said 

Fact Eight: He is specific in his commands

"Love me."

Fact Nine: I love him.

I do. My heart and head is full of him. He is the only one for me.

"Fear me."

Fact Ten: I fear him.

He is terrifying, is he not? His majesty fills rooms. His power enslaves mortals. His cruelty is that of legends. And I fear never seeing him again. Never hearing him taunt me. My name on his lips, in memorandum is so much more pleasurable than another's lips on mine.

"Do as I say, and I will be your slave."

Fact Eleven: I will do as he says.

He asked me to forget about the boy. I will for him. I am tired of this. I am tired of running without reason. Of worrying without cause. I will do what he says because defying him carries to heavy a cost for me anymore. I haven't the strength to carry it forward.

Fact Twelve: I miss him.

It was only ten hours. Why did it feel like so much more?

Fact Thirteen: What's said is said.

Jareth? I wish you would come and take me away right now…


End file.
